Tag Archives: work period

Today’s FLSA Question: I work for a municipal fire department. Everybody that works for the city [including the fire department] is paid on a weekly basis. However, firefighters do not receive overtime pay on a weekly basis. The firefighters overtime pay is included in every fourth paycheck. Why do firefighters have to wait? By the way, other city employees don’t ...

Humphreys County, Tennessee is the latest public employer to face an FLSA lawsuit filed by its employees. A group of six current and former workers from the county’s sheriff’s office filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated individuals in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on October 31, 2022. The plaintiffs, four ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am an overtime exempt battalion chief for a full-time fire department. I do not receive any overtime pay for my scheduled work shifts or for required meetings or trainings. I receive extra pay for working additional hours on other shifts. For example, if one of the other two battalion chiefs is on vacation or takes a ...

A group of thirteen Tulsa, Oklahoma firefighters have filed an FLSA lawsuit against the City of Tulsa, the mayor, and the city’s chief operating officer. The thirteen filed the lawsuit on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated employees [i.e., other Tulsa firefighters that will likely join the lawsuit over the next few months] in the U.S. District Court for ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am the union president for a mid-sized municipal fire department. Our labor agreement allows us to conduct an annual bid. Basically, all shift personnel bid by seniority in rank to a specific platoon (A, B, or C) and piece of apparatus once a year. The only “catch” is that the bid must occur at “no-cost” to ...

Wake County, North Carolina has reached a very quick settlement with a group of current and former paramedics following a March 2021 FLSA lawsuit in which county medics alleged “miscalculated overtime premiums.” The settlement requires Wake County pay a total of $297,121.90 to settle all claims for back wages and liquidated damages with all plaintiffs. Additionally, the county will pay ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I recently read your article entitled “Firefighters, Mandatory Overtime, and the FLSA” and have a somewhat related follow-up question. I work for a large county fire department. We also work a 24/48 schedule with a scheduled Kelly-day every three weeks for a 48-hour average workweek. However, we receive overtime for all additional hours worked outside of our ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a new fire chief for a mid-sized full-time paid fire department. Our firefighters work a 48/96 schedule with a 24-day work period. Additionally, we provide our firefighters with 12 (24-hour) Kelly Days every year. However, we do not assign a Kelly Day every work period. Instead, we allow our firefighters to use their 12-Kelly Days ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I have a question about mandatory overtime and the FLSA. If a firefighter is ordered to work an extra shift, doesn’t the FLSA require time and one-half pay for that shift? This is my situation. I am a full-time paid firefighter/paramedic. We work a 24/48 schedule with an assigned Kelly Day every three weeks. This combination results ...

Today’s FLSA Question: I am a full-time paid firefighter working for a small fire department with 13 full-time firefighters. We work 24 hours on duty, followed by a 48 hours off-duty for an average of 56 hours per week. My department has a strange way of paying overtime. Instead of paying firefighters for overtime worked in a regular bi-weekly paycheck; ...